Colorado Sports Betting Revenue, Handle and Taxes

Colorado Sports Betting Revenue

Colorado joined the crowded sports betting scene in May 2020 when it launched online sports betting, followed by retail betting sites a month and a half later in the middle of June. Colorado is the home of the recent NBA champion Denver Nuggets, and the Colorado Avalanche won the NHL Stanley Cup recently as well. When you add in the Colorado Rockies and Colorado Rapids, as well as the University of Colorado, Colorado State and Air Force, Coloradans have a plethora of local teams to root for. It also has countless sports betting options, with 24 online sportsbooks and 12 retail betting sites available daily.

Colorado sports betting revenue from May 2020 on is now over $817 million. Meanwhile, Colorado sports betting handle surpassed $5.18 billion in 2022 and Colorado sports betting handle for 2023 through May is $2.27 billion. The total Colorado sports betting handle has surpassed $12 billion.

Having the Nuggets go on their first NBA championship run, combined with Avalanche defending their NHL Stanley Cup crown has helped local fan interest with the Broncos coming off a poor year. All of the sports betting industry’s leaders are present in the state, including DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars and BetMGM.

Below, we discuss Colorado sports betting taxes and detail Colorado sports betting revenue and Colorado sports betting hold to show you how the state has fared financially since it legalized sports betting.

Colorado Sports Betting Taxes

Sports betting taxes are of great importance to bettors, who obviously want to keep as much of their winnings as possible. The CO sports betting tax rate currently stands at 10% on operator sports betting revenues. This is a competitive percentage as the more than 35 states and Washington, D.C. currently impose an average sports betting tax of 19%. Only Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada and Tennessee have lower state tax rates. Several states, including Arizona, Kansas, Maine, West Virginia, Wyoming, as well as Washington, DC have the same 10% tax rate.

Colorado sports betting taxes have generated more than $43.7 million to date. As long as the Colorado sports betting tax rate stays at competitive levels, Colorado bettors will continue to generate significant revenue from Colorado sports betting taxes. This also means that Colorado sports betting revenue has consistently been healthy since the trade was legalized in the Centennial State.

Colorado Sports Betting Handle

Sports betting handle refers to the total amount of money that has been wagered by a specific population. Nationally, people are definitely betting on sports. The sports betting handle for the entire country in 2022 was over $93.7 billion, which was more than $36 billion more than 2021. The national 2023 sports betting handle through May was already at $40 billion. Sports betting continues to grow and grow and Colorado sports revenue by state is impressive.

The most recent Colorado sports betting handle came in at $385 million for May 2023. That was $32 million lower than April 2023, but $25 million more than May 2022. The Colorado sports betting handle for 2022 was nearly $5.18 billion. The summer months were the lowest for Colorado in 2022 as well. The state averaged more than $431 million a month in sports betting handle in 2022, but only averaged $287 million in the months of June, July and August. That is a fairly common trend throughout the United States with no football or basketball games the majority of that time period.

When it comes to Colorado sports betting revenue by sport, the Nuggets and basketball are king. According to the Legal Sports Report, roughly $1 billion more has been bet on basketball in Colorado than football, with baseball a distant third. 

Colorado Sports Betting Handle Per Capita

Colorado is currently the 21st largest state in terms of population, coming in close to 5.87 million residents. The Colorado sports betting handle per capita in 2022 was $883. That puts Colorado near the top. In fact, the Centennial State sits in third place, behind sports betting meccas Nevada and New Jersey. Per capita in this sense is the annual sports betting handle of a state divided by that state’s population.

Colorado revenue by sport for basketball is nearly $3 billion, nearly $2 billion for football and $1.2 billion for baseball. Coloradans love their Nuggets, Broncos and Rockies, as well as the Avalanche, Rapids and college football and basketball. 

Colorado Sports Betting Hold

Sports betting hold is defined as the percentage of money that a sportsbook keeps for every dollar wagered by users. For example, if a sportsbook has a monthly handle of $10 million and a revenue of $2 million, that means they paid out $8 million in winnings. That also means that the hold would be 20%. 

Through five months of 2023, the Colorado sports betting hold percentage is 7.54%, which is up .74% from the 2022 average. The Colorado sports betting hold is considerably lower than the 9.05% national sports betting hold average, meaning local residents are picking and winning. Colorado sports betting hold percentage was also significantly lower than the national average in 2022 as well, posting a 6.8% holding percentage for the year, which was 1.30% lower than the national average.